The Lion
by AndAllThatMishigas
Summary: The Bartlets make a new friend. Bartlet History 13.


Author's Note: Real talk, I was really proud of myself when I came up with this headcanon. Gave myself the feels. Enjoy :)

 **The Lion**

Jed was sitting in the café below their flat in London on a rare sunny afternoon in May. Ever since he had finished the stress of his doctoral thesis, he'd had a lot more time to unwind. In the last few weeks, he had taken to sitting in the café in the afternoons and reading a copy of the New York Times with a cup of coffee. He figured he couldn't very well write a book extending the topic of his thesis about economies of developing counties when he didn't know what was going on in the world outside of London.

So now he was perusing the pages of the newspaper, waiting for Abbey to come home from work. The door to the café opened and he glanced up to see if it was his wife. But no, it was just a young man about Jed's age. Jed went back to his paper.

"Excuse me, are you American?"

Jed put the newspaper down and looked at the man who just addressed him. "Yes, I am." The American accent took Jed a little by surprise. He hadn't heard an American voice outside his own family in about a year.

"Wow, what are the odds? I get lost in London and run into someone reading the New York Times."

Jed smiled. "Have a seat. Jed Bartlet," he said in introduction, holding out his hand.

The other man shook it and smiled. His hazel eyes went squinty as his mouth spread out in a happy, crooked grin. "Leo McGarry. It's nice to meet you. I assume you didn't get lost and wind up here, too, did you?"

"No, I live on the top floor of this building, actually. I come and sit in the café and read the paper most afternoons. I spend all day in my tiny, silent office, so it's nice to be somewhere where people are moving around and making noise."

"Where do you work?" Leo asked curiously.

"I actually just finished my PhD at the London School of Economics, and now I'm working on a book. As soon as the final draft goes off to the publishers, I get to go home."

"And home is…?"

"New Hampshire," Jed said with a smile. The closer he got to finishing the book, the more excited he got. "What about you, Leo? Where you from and what are you doing in London?"

"I'm originally from Chicago, but I've mostly lived in Michigan for the last few years. And that's where I was when I got drafted. I'm on leave from Vietnam for a week. It was too far for me to go all the way home, so my fiancée was supposed to meet me here, kind of a halfway point. But Jenny's father just got really sick, so she had to cancel."

Jed's heart ached for this young man. "Tell me about Vietnam, if you don't mind my asking. I've been living in London for the last three years, so I missed the draft. And I don't know much beyond what I've been able to read in the newspapers."

Leo shrugged. "I don't know what I can tell you. I'm in the Air Force. I just got promoted to captain."

"Congratulations."

"Thanks," Leo replied with a nod. "But Vietnam is…well, it's a sticky jungle and it's going to hell. I mostly fly above it and drop whatever President Nixon's ordered."

Jed got an idea and went with it. "Listen, do you have any plans for this evening? I'd love for you to have dinner with my family."

"Oh, I couldn't impose."

Jed shook his head. "It's no imposition! In fact, it would be an honor to host you this evening, Captain McGarry. We don't get many Americans around here."

"Alright, but can I take you for a drink somewhere first?" Leo asked.

"Actually, I can't. I'm waiting for my girls." Jed glanced out the front window and grinned. "And here are my lovely ladies now!"

Leo followed Jed's gaze to see a beautiful brunette woman wearing a red sweater and a short black skirt holding the hand of a little girl with wispy brown hair in a blue dress with pink flowers on it. The woman opened the door and held it for the little girl to walk through. The woman smiled at Jed. It was a very nice smile. Her nose wrinkled up. The little girl let go of the woman's hand and ran forward. "Daddy!" She leapt into Jed's arms.

Jed caught her and laughed, kissing her cheeks. "Hey there, sweet pea! How was your day?"

"Good. I colored a picture for you."

"You did?" Jed asked excitedly.

"Yeah. Mommy put it in her purse for safe."

"For safe- _keeping_ ," Jed corrected.

The little girl considered this for a moment before responding, "Yeah. Safe-keeping."

"I'll take it to my office so it can make me think of you every second we're not together, okay?"

She nodded vigorously. Jed laughed and kissed her cheek again. He shifted the little girl to his hip and leaned over to the beautiful woman to give her a quick peck on the lips.

"Honey, this is Captain Leo McGarry, United States Air Force. I've invited him to dinner, if that's alright."

The woman turned to Leo with a soft smile. "Of course! I'm Abbey Bartlet, and this is our daughter, Elizabeth."

"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Bartlet." He shook Abbey's hand, then turned to face the little girl in her father's arms. "And it's nice to meet you too, Elizabeth. That's a very nice name. My big sister is named Elizabeth. But she's not nearly as pretty as you."

Elizabeth turned bright red and buried her face in Jed's neck. Jed chuckled. "Lizzie, what do you say when someone gives you a compliment?"

"Thank you," her small voice squeaked, muffled in the collar of Jed's shirt.

Abbey smiled on the scene. "Captain, why don't we all go upstairs? The grown-ups can have a drink while I get dinner ready."

Leo followed the Bartlets out of the café and up the long stairwell located right by the front door. Abbey unlocked the door and let them all into the flat. Jed deposited Liz on the ground, and she ran off to her room.

"Jed, I'm going to feed Lucky and bring out a few beers," Abbey informed him as she walked into the kitchen.

"You have a dog?" Leo asked.

"No, cat. Though I can see how the name would cause some confusion. Abbey and I went to Notre Dame, and the cat reminded me of the Fightin' Irish mascot, so we named him Lucky Leprechaun," Jed explained.

As if his ears were burning, Lucky wandered from the hallway into the living room. He turned his white head to blink his big green eyes at the newcomer to the house. After a moment, he went into the kitchen, where Abbey was calling him for dinner.

Jed led Leo to the couch and a moment later, Abbey came out with three bottles of Guinness. "I hope this is alright, Captain, this is all we have right now."

"It's great, Mrs. Bartlet. And please call me Leo. No one needs to call me Captain when I'm not on duty."

"And you should call me Abbey. Because as happy as I am to be Mrs. Bartlet, it's a little too formal over beers," she replied, taking a swig of Guinness.

Leo smiled and nodded. He liked these people. He was glad he had run into Jed Bartlet and his nice little family.

"Abb, how was your day, honey?" Jed asked his wife.

Abbey smiled softly, as though secretly pleased about something. "It was fine. I had a nice bunch of school children in today, asking a lot of questions. I got to show off a little when Father O'Leary came by."

"Oh yeah?" Jed asked with a knowing grin.

"Yeah, one boy asked me a relatively obscure Old Testament question about the Priestly Benediction, and I gave them the chapter and verse without looking it up," she told them proudly.

Jed nodded. "Numbers 6:22." He turned to Leo and explained, "Abbey works in the library at the Catholic church down the street. And while she's brilliant, she's no biblical savant. I was a Theology minor at Notre Dame and I wrote a paper on that verse that Abbey gave me a lot of help with."

"Wow you guys have been together a while," Leo noted.

"We met our sophomore year, started dating a year later, and got married after graduation. Next week is our three-year wedding anniversary," Abbey answered.

"Leo, you said you have a fiancée? When are you getting hitched?" Jed asked him.

"Yeah, Jenny. I met her in Boston when I was visiting some family. She's a secretary at my uncle's law firm. I proposed before I got deployed almost two years ago. We'll get married when I'm home for good, whenever that is. But she's really understanding. Writes me every week."

"It's gotta be hard being apart for so long," Abbey said sympathetically.

"We make it work," Leo replied with a shrug. It made him mildly uncomfortable to discuss Jenny with these two people, who he had just met but were obviously very in love with a very strong marriage.

Before anyone could say anything else, Elizabeth came running out from her room. "Mommy, I'm hungry," she announced.

"Elizabeth, it's rude to interrupt people," Abbey told her in a stern tone.

The little girl hung her head. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"It's okay, but don't do it anymore." Abbey stood up from the couch. "I'll start dinner now. We're having spaghetti, isn't that nice?" she asked her daughter, gently stroking her hair.

"Daddy's sauce?" Liz asked excitedly.

"No, I'm going to make it. We have a guest and it's rude to leave Leo alone while we cook," she explained.

"But I'm here," Elizabeth countered. "Can Leo play with me so Daddy can make sauce?"

Abbey looked to Jed. He wasn't quite sure what to say. But Leo answered for him. "I'm happy to stay in the company of such a nice little girl."

Elizabeth blushed and smiled.

"You sure you don't mind?" Jed asked him.

"Nah, I've got two sisters who made me do all the girly stuff when I was a kid. And my brother's best friend had a daughter I spent a lot of time with. I like kids," Leo replied with his crooked smile.

Jed nodded in satisfaction. "Lizzie, why don't you get some of your toys out of your room and bring them out here to play with Leo, okay?"

Liz ran off to do as her father asked. By the time she came back, her arms full of books and stuffed animals and dolls, her parents had made their way into the kitchen to start dinner. Leo sat down on the floor with Elizabeth.

"This is my new doll," she explained. "She has pretty red hair so I named her Mallory because my friend at daycare has pretty red hair and her name is Mallory."

"Mallory," he repeated, letting the syllables float pleasingly on his tongue. "That's a very pretty name."

Liz continued to introduce her toys. "And this is my lion. His name is Jeff because Daddy has friend who has crazy hair on his face like a lion."

"He has a beard?" Leo asked, gesturing to his face.

"Yeah. Jeff looks like a lion."

"You know, my name means lion in Latin."

Elizabeth's eyes went wide. She looked from Leo's face to her lion. "I should call him Leo." She mulled this over for a few moments. "Do you talk in Latin?" she asked.

"Not really."

"Daddy talks in Latin and it makes Mommy smile. But I don't know what he says because I don't know Latin."

Leo couldn't help but think that Latin was a strange choice, but it somehow made sense for Jed Bartlet.

As Elizabeth went on and on about all her toys excitedly, Leo couldn't help but reminded of Joanie at that age. Joanie, so full of life and enthusiasm for everything. He smiled to himself, remembering how attached she had become to him. He'd once overheard her telling her mother that she would marry him one day. She was such a great kid with such a bright future. He couldn't believe that it was almost a year since the fire. He hadn't been back to Connecticut since it happened. And he honestly couldn't imagine the Lyman house without her.

"Leo, will you read to me please?" Liz asked politely, holding one of her books out to him.

He returned to the present with a jolt. "Sure." Leo shifted where he sat so he could read Peter Rabbit to her.

Abbey poked her head out of the kitchen every few minutes to see what was going on. Each time, Liz noticed and waved. Leo would give her a knowing nod. After all, he was practically a stranger. It made sense that a young mother might be reticent to leave her daughter alone with him.

"How are they doing?" Jed asked as he stirred the tomato sauce he was making.

"Fine. Liz renamed her lion after Leo. She likes him."

Jed smiled. "I like him, too. He's…I don't quite know…trustworthy, maybe?"

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Abbey agreed as she carried the pot of spaghetti to the sink to strain it. "He's charming but sincere. Find out how long he's here. Maybe we can all get together again."

Jed nodded. "Yeah, that'd be nice." He brought the wooden spoon to his lips to taste the sauce. "Here, try this. Does it need more oregano?"

Abbey came over to the stove. "No, it's fine. A tad more salt, though." Jed nodded and added a dash of salt. As his did so, Abbey pressed her lips to his cheek. "What was that for?" he asked with a chuckle.

"I just love you, is all," she replied in a sweet voice.

Jed turned to look at her, searching her eyes with the question he didn't like asking out loud. She nodded in response, kissing him on the lips this time. Jed gave a small smile as he turned back to the sauce for the finishing touches. She was happy. That was all that mattered.

Abbey went out to the living room. "Dinner is almost ready. Lizzie, please put your toys away and wash your hands."

Leo stood up. "Abbey, is there anything I can do?"

"No, you're our guest. I'm going to set the table, and then we can all sit down."

As Leo joined the Bartlets at their dinner table, he couldn't help but think of how lucky he was to have met them. They were such a nice family, and they had been so kind to him. Jed said Grace, and everyone at the table crossed themselves before digging into the meal, even little Liz. She looked over to Leo with a big smile, which he returned. Before he started eating, Leo gave a silent prayer of his own, thanking God for leading him to the Bartlets. Inexplicably, he felt as though this was the beginning of something good.


End file.
